


The Cloister Room

by merryghoul



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 21:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16071599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/pseuds/merryghoul
Summary: Tegan and Nyssa need a break after all they’ve been through.





	The Cloister Room

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cyphomandra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyphomandra/gifts).



> There are a few Big Finish audios that are set after “Arc of Infinity,” including one directly set after that serial, but for this story, I’ve decided to go AU from the Big Finish audios.
> 
> Otherwise, this is set after “Arc of Infinity” and before “Snakedance.”

Tegan and Nyssa were walking around in a TARDIS corridor. The past few hours were eventful for the two of them as well as the Doctor. The Doctor dodged being framed and executed for treason, later chasing the Time Lord who wanted his body, Omega, through the streets of Amsterdam, only to see him decompose when his scheme failed. Nyssa found herself brandishing guns and teaming up with an ally of the Doctor’s, Damon, in an attempt to save the Doctor’s life on Gallifrey. And Tegan ended up being imprisoned by Omega by a spell. It was a few moments after Tegan decided to rejoin the Doctor and Nyssa in the TARDIS when Nyssa said “Tegan, what did you mean by you getting ‘the sack?’”

“I lost my job.” 

“You don’t seem all that disappointed.”

“Me? Arguing with at least one passenger on the fifty flights I was on before I got the sack? I’m not sure why I decided to be a flight attendant anyway. You know how I am. I’m always getting into arguments with you and the Doctor, and I was always arguing with Adric...”

“Adric,” Nyssa said, frowning.

Tegan looked sadly at Nyssa for a moment before speaking again. “What happened to you while I was gone?”

“A lot.” And Nyssa did mean “a lot.” She left it at her most recent adventures at Gallifrey. Tegan was stunned when she heard Nyssa brandished a gun and killed some Time Lords on Gallifrey, all for the Doctor. “Why would you do that, Nyssa? It doesn’t seem like you.”

“I guess meeting the Doctor’s changed me. If it wasn’t for him, in a way, I wouldn’t even be alive. And I’ve lost everyone I’ve known before I started travelling with the Doctor. My parents, Traken, Adric. I thought I lost you for a while. Maybe there’ll be a day when I outgrow him. But until then, I can’t imagine living without the Doctor.”

“Wait. You said thought you lost me for a while?”

“We finally arrived at the right date and time for your job, and you were so happy to take it that you left without some way of contacting you. But you’re back now. That’s all that matters.” The two of them found an entrance to a room in the TARDIS with vines along the walls and circular arches holding the room up. Tegan and Nyssa entered it. “And we’re here now,” Nyssa continued. “The cloister room.” 

“Well, since we’re now in the cloister room, I can finally tell you what happened a year or so ago. You know, in my time. I didn’t want to leave you and the Doctor. ” 

“You didn’t? You were always badgering the Doctor about getting you to Heathrow.”

“I tried to get back in the TARDIS, but by the time she materialised away, it was too late. That’s why I intentionally got the sack. I was hoping that somehow I’d find you and the Doctor again. I asked around London and found a few of his friends to see if they could help me find the TARDIS. I even made it into UNIT. But they never could find specifically the Doctor and you. By the time I arrived in Amsterdam, I’d given up hope that I’d ever see you again, until I ran into Omega. You thought you lost me? I thought I lost you.”

“Maybe the TARDIS intended for us to take a break. You know, like that adage you once told me about—what was it?”

“Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder?”

“Yes, that one. Maybe if you stayed on the TARDIS, we might’ve been at each others’ heads.”

Tegan shook her head. “Oh, I can’t imagine fighting so much that you’d hate me. Before I left, I felt you were the only person I could talk to about my aunt, back during that night we spent in Castrovalva. I mean, if you could call it a night. Who knows what the days were like there. I know the Doctor cares, but there’s something about him that doesn’t empathise with what I’ve been through.”

“You’ve been the only person I’ve been able to talk about anything that happened on Traken after the Master visited it. I wish you were here longer so we could’ve talked about Adric’s death. I tried to bring it up with the Doctor, but he wouldn’t discuss it. The most he’d say was he already saw one of his companions die and he witnessed a couple of them being brainwashed under the orders of the Time Lords. Naturally, he changed the subject to cricket after that. Tegan, we’ll never know if we’d ever hate each other if you weren’t stuck on Earth for a year, waiting to maybe find me again. But I’m glad we don’t hate each other.”

They both paused and gave each other lingering glances. Tegan broke the silence: “Where I’m from, they don’t like...”

“What don’t they like?”

Tegan stammered, something she rarely did. “Never mind.”

“Two women in love? Sexual practises between women?”

Tegan nodded. “They’ve jailed people for daring to talk about it in some parts of Australia. I remember reading it in the local papers before I ended up in the TARDIS. But, to be honest, it’s some people. Not all of them.”

“We’re not where you are now. You’re in one of the most guarded spots in the TARDIS. Maybe even Mutter’s Spiral.” Nyssa touched Tegan’s hand. “You can let go.” 

Tegan nodded. “You’re right. I should let go.” 

Nyssa leaned in again, brushing Tegan’s check. Tegan met her lips. The sadness she felt over losing Nyssa and the horrible things she had seen while she was first on the TARDIS seemed to melt away. Tegan knew she couldn’t forget those things. But Nyssa helped her to remember that travelling with the Doctor wasn’t always a bitter experience. 

After they kissed, Nyssa placed her head on Tegan’s shoulder. “Stay with me, Tegan. For as long as you can.”

“I’ll try, Nyssa. I’ll try.”

Moments later, the Doctor walked into the cloister room, behind Tegan and Nyssa. “Oh! There you two are. I wanted to let you two know I've fixed the TARDIS console from whatever damage Omega caused to it.” He awkwardly smiled at Tegan and Nyssa. “You know, you aren’t the first ones to find love aboard the TARDIS.”

Tegan and Nyssa kept quiet.

“I’ve got the perfect place I can take you. A leisure planet called Florana. I’ll set the coordinates.”

“But are you going to fly there, or are we going to end up watching the planet get created?” Tegan said.

“I’ve gotten better at flying the TARDIS since you left, Tegan.”

“Doesn't feel like it.”

The Doctor left in a huff to return to the control room. Nyssa snuggled closer to Tegan as the two were still in the cloister room once again.


End file.
